


The God of the Underworld Sneers

by Heartofaquamarine



Category: Bleach
Genre: Gen, Soul Society is built on lies and murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-10 20:55:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18415676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heartofaquamarine/pseuds/Heartofaquamarine
Summary: Kurosaki Ichigo was going to kill Kyouraku Shunsui. That much was clear.





	The God of the Underworld Sneers

Kurosaki Ichigo was going to kill Kyouraku Shunsui. Of that, the new Captain-Commander was sure.

Shunsui didn’t mean that in the way he would say that Nanao was going to kill him for not doing paperwork. Nor did he mean right now. It would likely be decades from now, when Ichigo’s physical body finally gives up, and the problem that Soul Society has been kicking down the road for years finally becomes unignorable.

Ichigo was a good person. Soul Society was corrupt in a way that only an organisation that has lasted for centuries, with many of the key players lasting that long as well, can be. It wasn’t something that could be simply cut out either; the good the Shinigami did in balancing the worlds was tangled inherently in the old secrets of Soul Society. Old, and cruel secrets. Yamamoto had known almost of all these secrets (although he hadn’t known about Aizen, or the Vandereich, and god knows how much else). He had had an active hand in many of them, and allowed the others to occur. Whether his old mentor agreed with them or not, Shunsui thought, it hardly mattered. Zanpakuto’s reflected their owner, and Ryujin Jakka was a sword designed to burn the world to ashes.  Yamamoto was the kind of man who, had he started ripping out the corruption, would have destroyed everything it was attached to. Shunsui suspected the old man had known that; much like his refusal to unleash his Bankai, he refused to use the political power of his office, for fear of burning Soul Society to the ground.

Shunsui, on the other hand, thought in terms of childhood games twisted to murder, in tragedies and in shadows. If Soul Society was twisted, then he could match every turn and cut away what was not needed. But that same mindset, that same moral corkscrewing, made him acknowledge the need for those secrets. Some of the crimes of soul society were made from cruelty and a desire for personal power, true. Others were hard decisions, made carefully, with full knowledge that the Shinigami in question were damning themselves. Others were the blundering of people trying to be good, and failing.

Kurosaki Ichigo was not as straight-forward as his extremely simple Zanpakuto indicated, but he was fiercely loyal, and there were plenty in Soul Society who could give him a reason to turn. He may have accepted the true purpose of the substitute badge easily enough, but that was a weapon aimed at him, not at someone who he had declared as under his protection, and Kurosaki seemed willing to ignore the blades pointed at his own neck as long as no one else was threatened. Still, once Kurosaki died, and took full time residence in Soul Society, he would almost certainly come to meet those who heaven had trampled on. Perhaps an escapee from the Maggot's Nest. Perhaps a citizen of the slums who had suffered some cruelty. Perhaps he would just read something he wasn't supposed to. Someone in Soul Society, whether Central 46, a Captain, the Noble Houses, or even the Zero division, was going to bring down Kurosaki’s wraith, and Shunsui’s new position meant he was going to be the one expected to stand in Zangetsu’s way, and frankly, Shunsui really wasn't sure he could handle Ichigo going full out.

That day, however, was a while off, and so for now Shunsui sat in the shade underneath a spreading plum tree, sipped his drink, and let himself slip into the shadows.

**Author's Note:**

> The title is taken from Shunsui's release command. "When the Flower Wind Rages, the Flower God Roars, When the Wind of Heaven Rages, the God of the Underworld Sneers".


End file.
